Communication equipment, method and device and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to communication equipment, a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium. The method for communication comprises the following steps: in response to determining that interference aiming at a first channel part exists, the communication equipment determines that a first resource part in the first channel part is not used; selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; and determining a bandwidth part formed by mutually aggregating the second resource part and the remaining resource parts except the first resource part in the first channel part as a current available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device, and sending configuration information associated with the current available bandwidth to the other communication device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of communication technologies, and more particularly, to network devices, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media. Background Art

[0002] Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is a new technology introduced in the sixth-generation Wi-Fi technology (Wi-Fi 6), which can effectively improve spectrum utilization and thus enhance the performance of wireless local area networks (WLANs).

[0003] OFDMA in Wi-Fi 6 is similar to cellular mobile communications. The Wi-Fi channel bandwidth can be divided into different resource units (RUs) for access by different users. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory including instructions stored therein, the at least one memory and the instructions being further configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the communication device to: in response to determining that interference exists with respect to a first channel portion, determine that a first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused; select a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; determine a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and remaining resource portions of the first channel portion other than the first resource portion as a currently available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device; and transmit configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth to the other communication device.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory including instructions stored therein, the at least one memory and the instructions being further configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the communication device to: receive, from another communication device, configuration information associated with a current available bandwidth of the other communication device, wherein the configuration information at least indicates a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the current available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portion of a first channel portion excluding the first resource portion; and communicate with the other communication device using the current available bandwidth based on the configuration information.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, in response to determining that interference exists with respect to a first channel portion, a communication device determining that a first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused; selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; determining a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and remaining resource portions of the first channel portion other than the first resource portion as a currently available bandwidth for communication with another communication device; and transmitting configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth to the other communication device.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method for communication is provided. The method includes receiving, from another communication device, configuration information associated with a current available bandwidth of the other communication device, wherein the configuration information at least indicates a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the current available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and remaining resource portions of a first channel portion other than the first resource portion; and communicating with the other communication device using the current available bandwidth based on the configuration information.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a device for communication is provided. The device includes a component for determining that a first resource portion within a first channel portion is unused in response to determining that interference exists with respect to the first channel portion; a component for selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; a component for determining a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion other than the first resource portion as a currently available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device; and a component for transmitting configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth to the other communication device.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for communication is provided. The apparatus includes a component for receiving, from another communication device, configuration information associated with a current available bandwidth of the other communication device, wherein the configuration information at least indicates a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the current available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and a remaining resource portion of a first channel portion other than the first resource portion; and a component for communicating with the other communication device using the current available bandwidth based on the configuration information.

[0010] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. The computer program includes instructions, which, when executed by a processor on a device, cause the device to execute the method described in the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0011] It should be understood that the contents described in the Summary of the Invention section are not intended to limit the key or important features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor are they intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are presented by way of example, and their advantages are explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0013] Figure 1 A schematic diagram illustrating an environment in which example embodiments described in this disclosure may be implemented;

[0014] Figure 2 A schematic diagram illustrating a communication process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0015] Figure 3 A schematic diagram illustrating a resource aggregation process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0016] Figure 4 shows a circuit diagram of a communication device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 5 A flow chart illustrating a communication method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 6 A flow chart illustrating a communication method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] Figure 7 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0020] Figure 8 A schematic diagram illustrating a computer-readable medium according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0021] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The principles and spirit of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to several exemplary embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these specific exemplary embodiments are described only to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and implement the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

[0023] As used herein, the terms "including" and similar terms should be understood as open inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to." The term "based on" should be understood as "based, at least in part, on." The terms "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment." The terms "first," "second," etc. may refer to different or the same objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0024] As used herein, the term "determine" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determine" may include computing, calculating, processing, deriving, investigating, searching (e.g., searching in a table, database, or another data structure), ascertaining, etc. Furthermore, "determine" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), etc. Furthermore, "determine" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc.

[0025] Herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise, executing a step “in response to A” does not mean executing the step immediately after “A” but may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0026] The term "circuitry" as used herein refers to one or more of the following: (a) a hardware circuit implementation only (such as an implementation of analog and / or digital circuitry only); and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of a hardware processor and software (including a digital signal processor, software, and memory that work together to enable a device, such as an optical communication device or other computing device, to perform various functions); and (c) a hardware circuit and / or processor, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor, that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation but may operate without software when no software is required for operation.

[0027] The definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, the term "circuitry" as used herein also covers an implementation that is solely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, or accompanying software or firmware. For example, if applicable to a particular claim element, the term "circuitry" also covers a baseband integrated circuit or a processor integrated circuit or a similar integrated circuit in an OLT or other computing device.

[0028] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network equipment in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G) communication protocols and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. The example embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems, including but not limited to terrestrial communication systems, non-terrestrial communication systems, or combinations thereof. In view of the rapid development of the communication field, there will certainly be future types of communication technologies and systems that can be used to implement the present disclosure. It should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned systems.

[0029] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from it. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a NodeB (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also known as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node such as a femto, a pico, etc.

[0030] As used herein, the term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a network device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), universal serial bus (USB) dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPEs), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated process chain environments), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The terminal device may correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) portion of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device," "network device," "terminal," "user equipment," and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0031] As used herein, the term "circuitry" refers to one or more of the following:

[0032] (a) hardware circuit implementations only (such as analog and / or digital circuit implementations only); and

[0033] (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software such as (if applicable):

[0034] (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and

[0035] (ii) any portion of a hardware processor and software (including a digital signal processor, software, and memory that work together to enable an apparatus such as an OLT or other computing device to perform various functions); and

[0036] (c) Hardware circuits and / or processors, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor, that require software (eg, firmware) for operation but can operate without software when no software is needed for operation.

[0037] The definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, the term "circuitry" as used herein also covers an implementation of a hardware circuit or processor (or processors), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, or accompanying software or firmware. For example, if applicable to a particular claim element, the term "circuitry" also covers a baseband integrated circuit or a processor integrated circuit or a similar integrated circuit in an OLT or other computing device.

[0038] As mentioned above, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is a new technology introduced in the sixth-generation Wi-Fi technology (Wi-Fi 6). This technology effectively improves spectrum utilization and thus enhances wireless local area network (WLAN) performance. Therefore, the Wi-Fi channel bandwidth can be divided into different resource units (RUs) for access by different users.

[0039] There are many restrictions on the spectrum allocation of the spectrum involved in Wi-Fi (6GHz), such as the limitations on the range of available wireless spectrum determined by wireless licensing regulations in different countries.

[0040] Wi-Fi devices operating in unlicensed frequency bands (such as 2.4 / 5.8 / 6 GHz) may face external in-band interference, especially from other Wi-Fi access points.

[0041] Once a communication device (e.g., a Wi-Fi device) detects interference within a channel, it can, for example, select another adjacent channel for communication to avoid the interference. This process is called dynamic channel selection (DCS). However, due to the spectrum limitations mentioned above, there's no guarantee that DCS will be successful.

[0042] It is also possible that the communication device may abandon the use of some resources in the channel that are affected by interference to ensure that the channel can still be used for communication. However, this solution will reduce the originally available channel bandwidth, thereby reducing the communication throughput and thus degrading the transmission efficiency.

[0043] Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure propose a dynamic flexible channel bandwidth (DFCBW) solution. In this solution, if a communication device determines that interference exists with a first channel portion, it determines that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is not used. The communication device selects a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion and determines the bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion other than the first resource portion as the currently available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device. The communication device sends configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth to the other communication device.

[0044] In this way, it is possible to ensure that when the current channel is interfered, the current channel can still be used for communication in a manner that does not change the available bandwidth of the current channel, thereby ensuring transmission reliability and predetermined transmission efficiency.

[0045] The principles and exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with further reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0046] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of an example communication network 100 in which example embodiments described in this disclosure may be implemented. Communication network 100 may be part of a communication network. Communication network 100 includes network device 110 and terminal device 120. Terminal device 120 may communicate with network device 110.

[0047] In some example embodiments, the network device 110 may include, for example, a wireless router configured to provide wireless network coverage to an indoor environment where a user is located. The wireless router may be a network device compliant with the 802.11 series of standards or implemented by any suitable device, such as a Wi-Fi access point (AP), and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. The network device 110 may, for example, communicate with other network devices (e.g., a base station) to provide wireless network coverage to terminal devices within a specific range, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0048] In some example embodiments, the link from network device 110 to terminal device 120 may be referred to as a downlink (DL), and the link from terminal device 120 to network device 110 may be referred to as an uplink (UL). In the DL, network device 110 is a transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter), and terminal device 120 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the UL, terminal device 120 is a TX device (or transmitter), and network device 110 is an RX device (or receiver).

[0049] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of devices and their connections shown in the figure is merely illustrative and not restrictive. Communication network 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implement the example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it should be understood that one or more other devices may be deployed in communication network 100.

[0050] Communications in the communication network 100 may be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol(s). Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), and the like cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0051] In addition, communications may utilize any appropriate wireless communication technology, including, but not limited to, code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform-based spread spectrum orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM), and / or any other technology currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0052] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a communication process 200 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 2 The illustrated communication process may involve, for example, a network device 110 (eg, a Wi-Fi access point) and a terminal device 120 (eg, a user equipment (UE)).

[0053] It should be understood that, although not shown, in the communication process 200 , at least a portion of the actions performed at the network device 110 may also be performed at the terminal device 120 .

[0054] like Figure 2 As shown, at block 205, the network device 110 may determine a channel configuration and a corresponding channel bandwidth configuration to be used for communication. For example, the channel configuration may include an identifier of a channel selected by the network device 110 for initial communication. In the present disclosure, the initial channel selected by the network device 110 for communication is also referred to as an initial desired channel (IWC), and the channel bandwidth corresponding to the initial channel is referred to as the channel bandwidth of the initial desired channel (CBW). IWC ).

[0055] For example, if Figure 3As shown, the network device 110 may determine to use the first channel portion 302 as the IWC and determine the initial available bandwidth 301 corresponding to the first channel portion 302 as the CBW. IWC .

[0056] like Figure 2 As shown, in block 210, if the network device 110 selects the first channel portion 302 as the IWC for communicating with the terminal device 120 and determines that the initial available bandwidth 301 corresponding to the first channel portion 302 is the CBW IWC , the network device 110 may send (215) the configured channel information associated with the above configuration to the terminal device 120. Therefore, at block 220, the terminal device 120 may also determine that the network device 110 selects the first channel portion 302 as the IWC for communicating with the terminal device 120 and determines that the initial available bandwidth 301 corresponding to the first channel portion 302 is the CBW IWC .

[0057] At block 225, the network device 110 may perform channel monitoring on the selected first channel portion before conducting communications, for example, by performing a listen before talk (LBT) operation. For example, the network device 110 may perform multiple LBT operations at predetermined bandwidth intervals across all possible channel bandwidths supported by the network device 110. For example, the network device 110 may perform multiple LBT operations at predetermined bandwidth intervals across the initial available bandwidth 301 of the first channel portion 302 and the bandwidths of other monitorable channels to determine whether there is in-channel interference (ICI) on the first channel portion 302.

[0058] At block 230 , if it is determined that there is ICI for the first channel portion 302 , then at block 235 , the network device 110 determines a bandwidth CBW for the ICI for the first channel portion 302 ICI Is it less than the CBW of the first channel portion 302? IWC .

[0059] If CBW is determined ICI Less than CBW IWC , then at block 240, the network device 110 may determine the CBW corresponding to the first channel portion 302. ICI That is, there is ICI for the first resource portion. The network device 110 then determines that the first resource portion will not be used. The first resource portion can be regarded as an unused resource unit (unused RU) in the first channel portion 302.

[0060] like Figure 3 As shown, if the network device 110 determines that there is an ICI 304 for the first channel portion 302, the CBW corresponding to the ICI 304 is determined within the first channel portion 302. ICI The first resource portion 303 will be excluded from the available bandwidth of the first channel portion 302.

[0061] Continue to refer Figure 2 At block 245 , network device 110 determines a second resource portion from the second channel portion, the second resource portion having a resource size corresponding to the first resource portion. The second channel portion is different from the first channel portion. For example, the second channel portion may be selected from a channel adjacent to first channel portion 302 .

[0062] In some embodiments, network device 110 may identify at least one adjacent channel in the same frequency domain as first channel portion 302 and determine a corresponding busyness level of the at least one adjacent channel based on the result of performing an LBT operation on the at least one adjacent channel. If network device 110 determines that a first adjacent channel of the at least one adjacent channel has a first busyness level lower than a threshold busyness level, the first adjacent channel may be determined as the second channel portion. It should be understood that the second channel portion includes at least an idle resource portion corresponding to the resource size of the first resource portion. Network device 110 may determine the idle resource portion of the second channel portion corresponding to the resource size of the first resource portion as the second resource portion.

[0063] For example, if Figure 3 As shown, if the network device 110 determines that the busyness of the adjacent channel 311 of the first channel portion 302 is lower than the threshold busyness, and the adjacent channel 311 includes at least an idle resource portion 312 corresponding to the resource size of the first resource portion, then the idle resource portion 312 can be determined by the network device 110 as the second resource portion.

[0064] In some other embodiments, if the adjacent channel 311 of the first channel portion 302 is not available, for example, the busyness of the adjacent channel 311 is higher than a threshold busyness, or the adjacent channel 311 cannot be used due to corresponding wireless licensing specifications, the network device 110 may also select a second channel portion from candidate channels in a different frequency domain range from the first channel portion.

[0065] For example, if Figure 3As shown, if network device 110 determines that adjacent channel 311 is unavailable, network device 110 may determine whether a candidate channel in a frequency domain different from the first channel portion, such as channel portion 321, is idle by performing an LBT operation. If network device 110 determines that channel portion 321 is idle and channel portion 321 includes at least an idle resource portion having a resource size corresponding to the first resource portion, channel portion 321 is determined to be a second channel portion and the idle resources within the second channel portion are determined to be a second resource portion.

[0066] After determining the second resource portion, in block 250 , the network device 110 uses a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions in the first channel portion 302 excluding the first resource portion 303 for the current available bandwidth of the first channel portion 302 .

[0067] For example, if Figure 3 If the idle resource portion 312 of the adjacent channel 311 in the first channel portion 302 is determined as the second resource portion, the idle resource portion 312 is aggregated with the resource portion of the first channel portion 302 excluding the first resource portion 303 to form the current available bandwidth of the first channel portion 302. The resource portion of the first channel portion 302 excluding the first resource portion 303 can be considered as the in-initial-channel part (IICP), and the idle resource portion 312 of the adjacent channel 311 can be considered as the out-of-initial-channel part (OOICP).

[0068] After determining the current available bandwidth that can be used to communicate with another communication device, the network device 110 can send (255) configuration information of the current available bandwidth to the terminal device 120 so that in box 260, the terminal device 110 determines the current available bandwidth to be used for communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0069] Additionally, if at block 235, network device 110 determines that CBW ICI Greater than CBW IwC , the network device 110 determines that the channel can be switched through DCS to achieve subsequent communication. If it is determined that DCS cannot be executed, it can be understood that the communication process has failed, which will not be described in detail in the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0070] If the network device 110 cannot find a suitable second resource portion in block 245 , it can be understood that the network device 110 will stop using the first resource portion and perform subsequent communication processes with a reduced available bandwidth, which is not described in detail in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0071] It should be understood that if at least a portion of the above actions performed at the network device 110 are performed by the terminal device 120, the network device 110 can provide the results of the multiple LBT operations monitored to the terminal device 120 so that the terminal device 120 can determine interference and / or select other available resources. In some cases, depending on the capabilities of the terminal device 120, the terminal device 120 can also perform LBT operations independently.

[0072] Furthermore, if network device 110 later determines that the ICI for the first channel portion has been eliminated, use of the first resource portion may be resumed and use of the second resource portion may be stopped.

[0073] Through the scheme described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to avoid the impact of intra-channel interference on transmission reliability and transmission quality without reducing the original available bandwidth, thereby ensuring the data throughput and transmission efficiency of communication at the same time.

[0074] Figure 4 1 shows a circuit diagram of a communication device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the network device 110 and / or the terminal device 120 may include more or fewer circuit components. Figure 4 The circuit structures of the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 shown in the figure are for illustrative purposes only, and the solution of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0075] Combine Figure 4 At the network device 110 , the aggregation of resources in different channel parts described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure is mainly implemented through the circuit part 410 and the circuit part 420 .

[0076] Assuming that the network device 110 is configured with an initial channel CHa, there are:

[0077] f LO =f c_CHa (1)

[0078] NCO0=0 (2)

[0079] CBW0=CBW CHa (3)

[0080] where f LO is the frequency of the local oscillator (LO) 423 of the network device 110, f c_CHa is the frequency of the initial channel CHa, NCO0 is the count of the numerically controlled oscillator 412, CBW0 is the bandwidth of the channel filter 411, CBW CHa is the bandwidth of the initial channel CHa.

[0081] In the absence of interference, circuit portion 420 may be considered inoperative.

[0082] Channel sensing for the initial channel CHa can be performed using the LBT module 440. If in-band interference 450 (denoted as CHb) is detected, the resource unit RU corresponding to CHb within the IICP of the initial channel CHa is unavailable. The network device 110 then determines another available channel portion CHc, which is also considered as the OOICP.

[0083] OOICP can be configured in the following ways:

[0084] NCO1=f c_CHc -f c_CHa (4)

[0085] CBW1=CBW CHc (5)

[0086] Where NCO1 is the count of the numerically controlled oscillator 422, f c_CHc is the frequency of the other available channel part CHc, CBW1 is the bandwidth of the channel filter 421, CBW CHc The bandwidth of other available channel parts CHc.

[0087] In this case, CBW1 , which is the bandwidth of channel filter 421 , and CBW0 , which is the bandwidth of channel filter 411 , may be aggregated to serve as the currently available bandwidth of network device 110 .

[0088] Once the LBT module 440 detects that the in-band interferer 450 has been eliminated, the circuit portion 420 may be returned to a non-operational state.

[0089] It should be understood that the operations at the terminal device 120 are similar to those at the network device 110, so they will not be described again.

[0090] Figure 5 The flowchart of the communication method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The method 500 may be implemented at a communication device, for example, at the network device 110 and / or at the terminal device 120.

[0091] In response to determining that interference exists for a first channel portion at block 510, the communications device determines, in block 520, that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused.

[0092] At block 530, the communications device selects a second portion of resources from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion.

[0093] At block 540 , the communication device determines a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion as a currently available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device.

[0094] At block 550 , the communications device sends configuration information associated with the current available bandwidth to the other communications device.

[0095] In some example embodiments, method 500 further includes: determining at least one adjacent channel that is in the same frequency domain range as the first channel portion; determining a corresponding busyness level of the at least one adjacent channel based on a result of performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation on the at least one adjacent channel; and in response to determining that a first busyness level of a first adjacent channel among the at least one adjacent channel is lower than a threshold busyness level, determining the first adjacent channel as the second channel portion.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the second resource portion has a resource size no smaller than that of the first resource portion.

[0097] In some example embodiments, method 500 further includes: in response to determining that the busyness of the at least one adjacent channel is higher than a threshold busyness, selecting the second channel portion from at least one candidate channel in a different frequency domain range from the first channel portion.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: resuming use of the first resource portion within the first channel portion in response to interference cancellation for the first resource portion; and discontinuing use of the second resource portion as available bandwidth for the first channel portion.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the first channel portion has an initial available bandwidth, and wherein the current available bandwidth aggregated by the second resource portion and the remaining resource portion corresponds to the initial available bandwidth.

[0100] In some example embodiments, determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is not used further includes: determining whether the bandwidth of the interference exceeds the initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion; and in response to the bandwidth of the interference not exceeding the initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion, determining the first resource portion within the first channel portion corresponding to the bandwidth of the interference.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

[0102] Figure 6 The flowchart of the communication method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The method 600 may be implemented at a communication device, for example, at the network device 110 and / or at the terminal device 120.

[0103] At block 610, a communication device receives configuration information associated with a current available bandwidth of another communication device from the other communication device, wherein the configuration information indicates at least a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the current available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion.

[0104] In block 620 , the communication device communicates with the other communication device using the currently available bandwidth based on the configuration information.

[0105] In some example embodiments, the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

[0106] In some example embodiments, an apparatus for communication may include components for performing the corresponding steps of method 500. These components may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, the components may be implemented as circuit devices or software modules.

[0107] The apparatus for communicating may include a component for determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is not used in response to determining that there is interference with the first channel portion; a component for selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; a component for determining a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion other than the first resource portion as a currently available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device; and a component for sending configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth to the other communication device.

[0108] In some example embodiments, the apparatus for communication further comprises: a component for determining at least one adjacent channel that is in the same frequency domain range as the first channel portion; a component for determining a corresponding busyness level of the at least one adjacent channel based on a result of performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation on the at least one adjacent channel; and a component for determining a first adjacent channel among the at least one adjacent channel as the second channel portion in response to determining that a first busyness level of the first adjacent channel is lower than a threshold busyness level.

[0109] In some example embodiments, the second resource portion has a resource size no smaller than that of the first resource portion.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the apparatus for communication further comprises means for selecting the second channel portion from at least one candidate channel in a different frequency domain range from the first channel portion in response to determining that the busyness of the at least one adjacent channel is higher than a threshold busyness.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the apparatus for communicating further comprises means for resuming use of the first resource portion within the first channel portion in response to interference cancellation for the first resource portion, and means for ceasing use of the second resource portion as available bandwidth for the first channel portion.

[0112] In some example embodiments, the first channel portion has an initial available bandwidth, and wherein the current available bandwidth aggregated by the second resource portion and the remaining resource portion corresponds to the initial available bandwidth.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the component for determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is not used further includes: a component for determining whether the bandwidth of the interference exceeds the initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion; and a component for determining the first resource portion within the first channel portion corresponding to the bandwidth of the interference in response to the bandwidth of the interference not exceeding the initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion.

[0114] In some example embodiments, the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

[0115] In some example embodiments, an apparatus for communication may include components for performing the corresponding steps of method 600. These components may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, the components may be implemented as circuit devices or software modules.

[0116] The apparatus for communicating may include a component for receiving configuration information associated with a currently available bandwidth of another communication device from the other communication device, wherein the configuration information indicates at least a second resource portion of a second channel portion, and the currently available bandwidth is formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portion of the first channel portion other than the first resource portion; and a component for communicating with the other communication device using the currently available bandwidth based on the configuration information.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

[0118] Figure 7 FIG2 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be used to implement the network device 110 and / or the terminal device 120 in the communication network 100. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processing units 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processing units 710, and a communication module 740 coupled to the processing units 710.

[0119] The communication module 740 is configured for bidirectional communication. In some exemplary embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna to facilitate communication. In some exemplary embodiments, the communication module 740 may include one or more communication interfaces. A communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements.

[0120] The processing unit 710 can be of any type suitable for the local technology network and can include, but is not limited to, one or more of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microcontroller, a digital signal controller (DSP), and a controller-based multi-core controller architecture. The device 700 can have multiple processors, such as application-specific integrated circuit chips, which are time-slave to a clock synchronized with a main processor.

[0121] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 724, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact disks (CDs), digital video disks (DVDs), and other magnetic and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that do not persist during a power outage.

[0122] Computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions executed by associated processing unit 710. Computer program 730 may be stored in ROM 724. Processing unit 710 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading computer program 730 into RAM 722.

[0123] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented with the aid of a computer program 730, so that the device 700 can execute the instructions described in the reference Figures 2 to 6 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the computer program 730 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage device accessible by the device 700. The computer program 730 may be loaded from the computer-readable medium into the RAM 722 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Figure 8 An example of a computer readable medium 800 in the form of a CD or DVD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The computer readable medium 800 has a computer program 730 stored thereon.

[0125] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuitry, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the example embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented as, by way of non-limiting example, hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuitry or logic, general-purpose hardware or a controller or other computing device, or some combination thereof.

[0126] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable storage medium. In some example embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be non-transitory. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, which are executed in a device on a real or virtual processor of a target to perform the above-referenced Figure 5 The method 500 or Figure 6Method 600 is described. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules can be combined or divided between program modules as needed. The machine-executable instructions for the program modules can be executed on local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0127] The computer program code for implementing the disclosed method can be written in one or more programming languages. These computer program codes can be provided to the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device so that the program code, when executed by the computer or other programmable data processing device, causes the functions / operations specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram to be implemented. The program code can be executed entirely on a computer, partially on a computer, as an independent software package, partially on a computer and partially on a remote computer or entirely on a remote computer or server.

[0128] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer-readable media, and the like. Examples of signals may include electrical, optical, radio, acoustic, or other forms of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, and the like.

[0129] A computer-readable medium may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program for or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. A computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More detailed examples of computer-readable storage media include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0130] In addition, although the operations of the method of the present disclosure are described in a particular order in the accompanying drawings, this does not require or imply that these operations must be performed in this particular order, or that all the operations shown must be performed to achieve the desired result. On the contrary, the steps depicted in the flowchart can change the order of execution. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps can be omitted, multiple steps can be combined into one step, and / or one step can be decomposed into multiple steps. It should also be noted that the features and functions of two or more devices according to the present disclosure can be embodied in one device. Conversely, the features and functions of a device described above can be further divided into being embodied by multiple devices.

[0131] Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to several specific embodiments, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed. The present disclosure is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory including instructions stored therein, the at least one memory and the instructions being further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the communication device to: In response to determining that interference exists with respect to a first channel portion, determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused; selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; as well as determining a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion as a current available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device; as well as Configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth is sent to the other communication device.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: determining at least one adjacent channel that is in the same frequency domain as the first channel portion; Determining a corresponding busyness level of the at least one adjacent channel based on a result of performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation on the at least one adjacent channel; In response to determining that a first busyness level of a first adjacent channel of the at least one adjacent channel is below a threshold busyness level, the first adjacent channel is determined to be the second channel portion. 3 . The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the second resource portion has a resource size not smaller than that of the first resource portion.

4. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to determining that the busyness of the at least one adjacent channel is higher than a threshold busyness, the second channel portion is selected from at least one candidate channel in a different frequency domain range from the first channel portion.

5. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: Resuming use of the first resource portion within the first channel portion in response to interference cancellation for the first resource portion; as well as The use of the second resource portion as available bandwidth for the first channel portion is discontinued.

6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the first channel portion has an initial available bandwidth, and wherein the current available bandwidth aggregated by the second resource portion and the remaining resource portion corresponds to the initial available bandwidth.

7. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused further comprises: determining whether a bandwidth of the interference exceeds an initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion; as well as In response to the bandwidth of the interference not exceeding the initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion, determining the first resource portion within the first channel portion corresponding to the bandwidth of the interference.

8. The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

9. A communication device comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory including instructions stored therein, the at least one memory and the instructions being further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the communication device to: receiving, from another communication device, configuration information associated with a current available bandwidth of the other communication device, wherein the configuration information indicates at least a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the current available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion; as well as Based on the configuration information, communicating with the other communication device is performed using the currently available bandwidth. 10 . The communication device according to claim 9 , wherein the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

11. A method for communication, comprising: The communications device determines, in response to determining that interference exists with respect to a first channel portion, that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused; selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from the first channel portion; determining a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion as a current available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device; as well as Configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth is sent to the other communication device.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: determining at least one adjacent channel that is in the same frequency domain as the first channel portion; Determining a corresponding busyness level of the at least one adjacent channel based on a result of performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation on the at least one adjacent channel; In response to determining that a first busyness level of a first adjacent channel of the at least one adjacent channel is below a threshold busyness level, the first adjacent channel is determined to be the second channel portion. The method of claim 11 , wherein the second resource portion has a resource size no smaller than the first resource portion.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: In response to determining that the busyness of the at least one adjacent channel is higher than a threshold busyness, the second channel portion is selected from at least one candidate channel in a different frequency domain range from the first channel portion.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: Resuming use of the first resource portion within the first channel portion in response to interference cancellation for the first resource portion; as well as The use of the second resource portion as available bandwidth for the first channel portion is discontinued.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first channel portion has an initial available bandwidth, and wherein the current available bandwidth aggregated by the second resource portion and the remaining resource portion corresponds to the initial available bandwidth.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused further comprises: determining whether a bandwidth of the interference exceeds an initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion; as well as In response to the bandwidth of the interference not exceeding the initial available bandwidth corresponding to the first channel portion, determining the first resource portion within the first channel portion corresponding to the bandwidth of the interference.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

19. A method for communication, comprising: receiving, from another communication device, configuration information associated with a current available bandwidth of the other communication device, wherein the configuration information indicates at least a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the current available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion; as well as Based on the configuration information, communicating with the other communication device is performed using the currently available bandwidth. 20 . The method according to claim 19 , wherein the communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication and the other communication device comprises a terminal device, or the communication device comprises a terminal device and the other communication device comprises a network device for Wi-Fi communication.

21. An apparatus for communication, comprising: means for determining that the first resource portion within the first channel portion is unused in response to determining that interference with the first channel portion exists; means for selecting a second resource portion from a second channel portion different from said first channel portion; means for determining a bandwidth portion formed by aggregating the second resource portion and the remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion as a currently available bandwidth for communicating with another communication device; as well as means for sending configuration information associated with the currently available bandwidth to the other communication device.

22. An apparatus for communication, comprising: means for receiving, from another communication device, configuration information associated with a currently available bandwidth of the other communication device, wherein the configuration information indicates at least a second resource portion of a second channel portion, the currently available bandwidth being formed by aggregating the second resource portion and remaining resource portions of the first channel portion excluding the first resource portion; as well as means for communicating with the other communication device using the currently available bandwidth based on the configuration information.

23. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor on a device, cause the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 11-18 or the method according to any one of claims 19-20.

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